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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30141684">Honesty</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidbathh/pseuds/acidbathh'>acidbathh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Eddsworld - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Comedy, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past childhood sexual abuse, Psychiatric Wards, i spell patryck as patrick bc i forget its not the english spelling im so sorry, putting that tag here because this fic is going to be very fucked up, some of the violence is normal some of it is not, to a degree</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:00:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,523</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30141684</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidbathh/pseuds/acidbathh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom's kills as an assassin are growing ever violent, and Red Leader seems to care very little about it, even encouraging his dangerously violent behaviour, despite the fact that it's very clearly affecting both of their jobs, as well as their relationship, which is becoming ever toxic with the power dynamic between the two. </p><p>They're unstable, and it's only a matter of time before either of them snaps and someone gets hurt.</p><p>Red Leader's right-hand men decide to take matters into their own hands and force them to get the help they need with the threats of their jobs, bodily harm and possible genocide, and at this point Tom and Tord have no choice but to go to an inpatient facility for the next six months and get the help they so very obviously need. </p><p>However, one of them may not be telling the whole truth, forcing Tord's right-hand men to, once again, take matters into their own hands. </p><p>Shenanigans ensue.</p><p>[Updated and rewritten.]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tom/Tord (Eddsworld)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Honesty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i put all the content warnings in the tags of the fic but if there is something specific that's just for one chapter and less plot-general i'll probably put it here. </p><p>this chapter has content warnings for: gore and graphic depictions of violence. the whole fic opens with that, actually. </p><p>im gonna go ahead and put a disclaimer here to say that this fic is not for the faint of heart. that, and that i am not romanticizing anything mentioned in the fic at all. this fic is meant to be a darker take on future aus with a lot of dark comedy. it's made to explore (childhood) trauma and abuse, unhealthy relationships, unhealthy coping mechanisms and unhealthy relationships with sex as well as mental illness and warped perceptions of reality as a form of projection, venting and catharsis by the author. i am not here to romanticize trauma, so if you are, get out. trauma is not cute. </p><p>another disclaimer: while i cannot gatekeep specific people from reading this fic, i can put as many warnings as possible to say that i do not recommend reading this fic if you are under at /least/ 16. ideally this would be 18+ but i feel that's unrealistic. this fic is meant to explore a lot of very, very dark topics that may be triggering, traumatizing or just all around bad for younger people to consume without really understanding it for what it is. </p><p>that's all i have to say here. you have been sufficiently warned, read at your own risk.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He licked the blood off the blade he just used to cut his target's face. </p><p>He'll admit that maybe he enjoyed his job just a little too much. </p><p>"Now," He said calmly, hands on either arm on each side of the chair his target was tied to and leaning forwards so their faces were real close. "I gotta admit... You were a tricky bastard. Slippery little fucker to find." He pointed a bloody finger at the man, looking off to the side and grinning. The man only looked terrified, once being a powerful politician campaigning against the Red Leader and now whimpering like a lost puppy. </p><p>"But as it turns out, you weren't lucky enough to get away from me." </p><p>Tom licked his teeth, grabbing the knife and shoving it deep into the man's stomach. The man gasped, then the knife was abruptly pulled to the side, cutting his stomach open further, letting his guts spill as he bled out. Reaching into the new hole he ripped into the former politician, he pulled out part of the man's intestines. He grinned sickly and showed it to his victim, who's eyes slowly glossed over, letting his own organs be the last thing he saw. </p><p>Tom looked at the organ in his hand now that the man was gone, and considered taking a bite, but even he thought that might've been a little too far. </p><p>He dropped it and it lay pathetically on the slumped man's upper thighs, not giving it another thought as he turned and crawled back through the window he came in from.</p><p>On the jet ride home, accompanied by Yuu, Tom was now clean of the blood on his hands--merely in a literal sense--and he now sat relaxed, reading a book and hoping Yuu wouldn't talk to him. Yuu sat across from him, hands resting behind his head and his eyes on the ceiling. </p><p>"What book are you reading?" Yuu asked. Tom elected not to answer, keeping the same blank expression and reading his book. Yuu whined. "Come on, you never talk to me..." Yuu put his hands on his knees, resting his head there and putting on a pouty face Tom couldn't see with his head down and nose nuzzled in his book. Yuu sighed, moving to sit in his chair sideways and grumbling to himself. </p><p>Years ago, Tom would've been very similar to how Yuu is now. Yuu was a young, blonde soldier that was distractable, energetic and loyal to a fault. Tom didn't know what made him choose to enlist in the Red Army, but if he were to hazard a guess, it would probably be due to an innate feeling of justice, or something. </p><p>Yuu was with him as a kind of partner of sorts for his assassination missions. Red Leader didn't like how he's been performing as of late, and due to that he assigned Yuu to go with him and make sure he didn't do anything stupid, but Tom learned very quickly that while loyal to a fault, Yuu is distractable. He's managed to get away with doing a lot of things by distracting Yuu, but he's starting to feel like that time is coming to an end. He might get assigned a new partner that's less distractable, or be demoted. </p><p>Tom finally put the book down at some point and flagged over one of the attendants to bring him a shot of whiskey on the rocks and he looked out the window while his drink was brought to him. He felt the presence of someone annoying being very close to him spatially, and he turned and looked to Yuu, who was staring at him very intently.</p><p>"What." Tom said. </p><p>"I think you did a good job last night." Yuu replied. </p><p>"In any other context that would've been poor a sex joke." Tom said blankly, trying to deflect the compliment. Yuu laughed. </p><p>"You're so funny, Tom." He said. </p><p>"Are you flirting with me." Tom said as more of a statement than a question. Yuu made a face Tom had trouble figuring out before he started laughing. "No, of course not! I can't just compliment my... Partner?" Yuu nudged Tom with his fist, beaming. The tone in his voice when he said 'partner' told Tom that he was getting used to this relationship far more quickly than Tom felt comfortable with. </p><p>Frankly, Yuu's upbeat personality made Tom feel like the Squidward Tentacles to Yuu's Spongebob Squarepants, and he hated the part of himself that made that analogy. </p><p>Tom just rolled his eyes and thanked the attendant that brought him his drink. He leaned back, took a sip and continued looking out the window, just waiting to get home.</p><p>Home was a bit of an exaggeration, it was more of just the army base that he and Tord--Red Leader--stayed at along with a couple handfuls of soldiers and Tord's right hand men. It was their base of operations, and where Tom was used to sleeping at night, but he wouldn't really call it a home. </p><p>Nothing really felt like home to him anymore, honestly.</p><p>This was what lead to Tom getting wildly out of control on his missions. </p><p>He was a very skilled assassin, very well respected for his work, but lately, he's been going too far. </p><p>Way too far. </p><p>When he first started, he just killed and was done with it. End of. Usually he would use a gun with a silencer to shoot his victims in their sleep, or punch their noses. Nobody had a reason to see it as a cause for concern when he'd escalated to also slitting their throats with kitchen knives, or stabbing them. Things only got concerning when he'd stabbed one of his victims twenty-seven times in the chest. </p><p>Tom said it was just because the victim had tried to escape and kill him, that it was in self defense and was perfectly justified. But the guy was tied to a chair, with very clear bruises on his wrists left by the ropes. No one was really sure what to say about it. Red Leader said to leave it alone and that it very likely meant nothing, but he was just ignoring a growing problem. </p><p>Tom was becoming unstable. </p><p>When he escalated to actual torture and Red Leader still did nothing, enabling and even encouraging Tom's violent and dangerous behaviour, his right hand men knew that they had to do something about it as soon as possible, and luckily, they had a  plan. </p><p>"An intervention?" Paul said, biting into his sandwich. "Yeah," Patrick said. "If we deem Tord unfit to do his job and get him to agree somehow, according to the rules he wrote, that would put us in charge and we would be able to send him and Tom somewhere to get some, I don't know, some fuckin therapy or something." Paul raised a brow. "How are you going to get him to agree that he's unstable?"</p><p>"Not me, we." He gestured between the two of them. "He's got to trust his two right-hand men, right?" Paul scoffed. "No way, not even we could do that by ourselves." He said. Patrick leaned back in his chair and grumbled. "What's your idea then, smarty-pants?" Paul shrugged. "Maybe if we can get a couple more brave soldiers, ones with some big cajones, we could convince him. He's small, but he probably can't take much more than the two of us." Patrick grinned. "I've got it! What if we get a couple more soldiers with some big ass balls and threaten violence against him until he goes to therapy." Paul blinked. "That's what I just said." He said. "I know, but now it's my idea." Paul frowned. "That's not how ideas work." He said. Patrick shrugged. "It is under communism." Paul put his face in his hand and sighed while Patrick chuckled.</p><p>"Oh my god, you ass." He said. Patrick snorted. "C'mon, we gotta eat our lunch before someone notices we're plotting something." Paul shook his head. "Yeah, whatever, shithead." Paul replied, eating his lunch.</p><p>They secretly gathered their team together and quietly prepared to confront Tom and Red Leader when they were together, alone, realizing just how risky this mission was.</p><p>Thankfully, they didn't catch the two of them doing something unsavory or otherwise unprofessional between a boss and his employee.</p><p>This time.</p><p>"This is an intervention." Paul said, having gathered Patrick, Yuu, Yanov, Red Leader and Tom all together in a room. Tom looked directly at Red Leader, apparently flabbergasted. "You're staging an invervention for me!?" He said. "What the fuck!" He threw his arms up into the air, and Tord growled. "I didn't stage a fucking intervention for you, asshole, I don't even know what the hell this is about!" He hissed. Tom scoffed. "Yeah fucking right." Tom sneered. "Why would I stage a fucking intervention for you!?" Tord spat back. "Clearly because you feel like there's a problem." He said, pulling the flask out of his pocket and taking a swig from it. "Maybe you fucking do, god damn alcoholic." Tord said, nabbing the flask from him and taking a sip himself. "I need this more than you do just to fucking deal with you." He muttered. "Oh, you bitch! Give that back!" Tom tried to grab it from Tord but Red Leader kept it out of reach, and at this point Patrick was boiling over in irritation at the two. </p><p>"ENOUGH!" He yelled, and both Tom and Tord stopped in their tracks, half on top of each other trying to get the flask that was now spilling onto the ground a little bit. </p><p>"Tord did not stage this intervention for you, Tom." He said, now that he had their attention. "We did. For both of you assholes." He crossed his arms, glaring at the two of them. Tord looked offended. "Is that any way to talk to your lead-" But stopped immediately when he saw the look that Patrick gave him, and while Tord could very well hold his own in a fight, Patrick was bigger than him and Tord didn't want to have to fight him while he was seriously pissed off, so he made the wise choice to shut the fuck up. </p><p>"We are staging an intervention for the both of you because you're fucking idiots, and it's affecting your job so badly that I don't even know how you two are running a country, let alone how you're even still alive." Patrick stepped forwards and it was clear he had the floor at this point. He walked over to Tom and Tord who were still frozen in their places and forcefully separated them, leaning in real close. "If you two don't get your shit together, whatever shit you have left is going to fall apart so badly into little shit-piles of shit-dust you won't have any shit to put back together even if you wanted to."</p><p>Tom gulped. "You're kinda hot when you're mad." Patrick glared at him, leaned down and immediately slapped him in the face.</p><p>"I deserve that. I deserve that." He said, looking to Tord, who just wordlessly nodded.</p><p>Patrick stood back up, looking down at Red Leader. "We're revoking your rights to your job for the time being as we have the right to do if we see that you have become incapacitated, unstable, absent or otherwise unable to currently continue filling the role of Red Leader for the time being, indefinitely." </p><p>"B-but I'm not really incapacitated-" Tord started, but Patrick was very quick on the draw. "Would you fucking like to be?" He cracked his knuckles, giving a sick grin as he said this. "I am incapacitated, unstable, absent or otherwise unable to currently continue filling the role of Red Leader for the time being, indefinitely." Tord said, his voice shaking. </p><p>Patrick stood up, and grinned, and clapped his hands together. "Great! We're all on the same page." He said. "Now, according to the rules you wrote yourself, since you are no longer able to currently fill the role of Red Leader indefinitely, that leaves Paul and I to fill the role for you until you are able to do your job again, which gives me the authority to fire Tom." Tom choked, baffled. "Fired!? What for!?" He yelled. "For being one sick, unstable motherfucker." Patrick replied. Tom just scoffed. "I'm normal." He said. </p><p>"Normal people don't tie other people to chairs and torture them until they die." Patrick said. Tom flattened his lips into a thin line, furrowed his brows and had nothing to say. </p><p>"But Tom, Tord, you can both get your jobs back very easily." Patrick said in a sweet and falsely soothing voice. "I'm afraid to ask how...?" Tord said. "Well, you can get them back by completing six months minimum of time spent at an inpatient facility, including a full psychiatric evaluation." He grinned, and Tom and Tord looked shocked. "After you do that and get your jobs back you will be required to complete one year of therapy, both individual and couples, at least twice a week."</p><p>There was a long, pregnant pause between the two groups.</p><p>Tom and Tord looked at each other for a moment, and laughed. "What? Therapy?" Tom scoffed. "I'm fully serious." Patrick said. "If you do not go to the inpatient facility that Paul and I have picked out for you then I am going to threaten you with physical harm and the keeping of your job. How do you feel about me turning your legacy into a dystopian nightmare, Tord?" Tord's jaw dropped. "You're willing to put the lives of millions of people at risk just to send me to therapy!?" Tom was just as shocked. "You're the one that should be in therapy, you're practically threatening genocide!" </p><p>"It's working, isn't it?" Patrick said with a blank expression and cold, emotionless tone. </p><p>Tom and Tord gulped. </p><p>"O-okay, we'll go." Tord said.</p><p>"We'll go, fine, we're going." Tom followed. </p><p>Patrick clapped his hands together, grinning. "I'm so glad to hear it! You better start packing, because the private jet leaves in a couple of hours. Paul and I have already got a press conference scheduled about the event." Tom was shocked, again, while Tord made a worried expression, but Patrick put those worries to rest. "Don't worry, no unnecessary information will be released, and the inpatient facility you will both be staying at is sworn to secrecy via non-disclosure agreement, and should it be leaked that you were staying at this facility during this time, the legal battle that will ensue would be in the fucking history books." Tord looked a little more relaxed at that, while Tom still just looked quite flabbergasted.</p><p>"Well!" Patrick said, gathering the rest of his and Paul's intervention group up. "We'll leave you to it. Get packing, we'll be back in a couple of hours." </p><p>As soon as they left, Tom and Tord looked to each other, not entirely sure of the events that had just happened. </p><p>"Guess we better get packing." Tom said, raising his brows. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>my tumblr is 1azybones and its mostly for art because i forget to put my fics there but you can see the stuff i draw.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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